Systems and methods for parking management

Abstract

A system and method to manage a parking area. The system may include one or more tags; a license plate reader configured to read license plates; and a tag reader configured to, in response to a license plate read by the license plate reader, read the tag and determine whether the read license plate belongs to an authorized or unauthorized vehicle.

1 . A system for management of a parking facility comprising:
 a plurality of tags positioned at selected locations within the parking facility, each of the tags configured to transmit tag data associated with one or more parking areas;   a plurality of parking management vehicles, each of the parking management vehicles including:
 a license plate reader configured to detect and read a license plate, and 
 a tag reader configured to, in response to the license plate read by the license plate reader:
 transmit a prompt to a tag associated with a parking area where a license plate is read by the license plate reader, and 
 receive the tag data transmitted from the tag associated with the parking area in response to the prompt; 
 wherein the tag data received by each RFID tag includes a location identifier corresponding to a selected parking area within the parking facility; and 
 
   at least one monitoring station configured to determine, based on the tag data associated with the parking area where the license plate is read by the license plate reader, whether a vehicle having a license plate captured by the license plate reader is permitted to be in the parking area.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , at least one monitoring station comprises one or more monitoring stations. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one monitoring station includes at least one monitoring station located within a parking management vehicle. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the license plate reader comprises a camera configured to capture at least one image of a license plate, and a processor configured to execute instructions analyzing the at least one image to identify characters therein to generate a license plate read for identifying a vehicle associated with the license plate. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more tags comprises an RFID tag. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more tags correspond to one or more of an individual parking spot in a parking area or a level of the parking area. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more tags are embedded in one of a floor, ceiling, or wall of the parking areas. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one monitoring station comprises a memory and a processor; wherein the memory is configured to store a location of each of a plurality of vehicles identified by an associated license plate number and tag data associated with an identified parking area corresponding to an identified vehicle; and wherein the processor includes programming configured to provide a visual report of a selected vehicle location upon a request therefor. 
     
     
         9 . A parking management system comprising:
 one or more license plate readers each configured to:
 capture at least one image of a license plate of a vehicle present at at least one parking area; and 
 generate a license plate read associated with the vehicle present at the at least one parking area; 
   a tag reader configured to, in response to the license plate read by the one or more license plate readers:
 transmit a prompt to at least one tag associated with the at least one parking area, and 
 receive tag data from the at least one tag associated with the at least one parking area; and 
   a monitoring station configured to compare the license plate read associated with the vehicle present at the at least one parking area with the tag data associated with the at least one parking area, and determine whether the vehicle associated with the license plate read is authorized to park in the at least one parking area.   
     
     
         10 . The parking management system of  claim 9 , further comprising at least one parking management vehicle; wherein the at least one parking management vehicle includes the one or more license plate readers positioned thereon; and wherein as the at least one parking vehicle moves about a parking structure, the one or more license plate readers are moved in proximity to each vehicle sufficient to detect and capture the at least one image of the license plate of the vehicle. 
     
     
         11 . The parking management system of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one parking management vehicle includes the monitoring station. 
     
     
         12 . The parking management system of  claim 10 , wherein the determination of whether a vehicle is authorized to park in the at least one parking area is performed in substantially real-time, and wherein the at least one parking management vehicle includes a user interface configured to display the determination of whether the vehicle is authorized to park in the at least one parking area. 
     
     
         13 . The parking management system of  claim 9 , wherein the tag reader comprises one of a mobile tag reader or a stationary tag reader configured to communicate with RFID tags. 
     
     
         14 . The parking management system of  claim 9 , wherein each of the one or more license plate readers comprise one of a mobile license plate reader or stationary license plate reader. 
     
     
         15 . A method for management of a parking area, the method comprising:
 scanning the parking area for RFID tags positioned about the parking area;   in response to the scanning, receiving tag data transmitted from each of the RFID tags;   capturing one or more license plates associated with one or more vehicles of a plurality of vehicles within the parking area;   storing, in a memory, at least one license plate associated with each vehicle together with the tag data of an RFID tag associated with a location within the parking area at which a license plate associated with each vehicle is captured;   wherein the tag data includes a location identifier for each location associated with each RFID tag;   comparing each captured license plate and the tag data associated therewith to a list of authorized license plates stored in the memory and associated with the location at which the captured license plate is captured;   determining whether a vehicle associated with the captured license plate is authorized to park in the location; and   if it is determined that the vehicle is not authorized to park in the location, generating an alert indicating an unauthorized vehicle is present in the location.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the memory is in communication with one or more monitoring stations, and further comprising wirelessly communicating updates to the list of authorized license plate numbers to the memory from the one or more monitoring stations. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising determining a number of occupied and empty parking spaces, floors, areas, or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein determining whether each captured license plate matches a license plate in the list of authorized license plate is performed in substantially real-time. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising displaying at a monitoring station, the location within the parking area where the unauthorized vehicle is located. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein capturing the one or more license plates associated with one or more of the plurality of vehicles within the parking area comprises capturing a photograph, video, image, or a combination thereof of each of the one or more license plates substantially simultaneously with receiving the location identifier associated with each RFID tag.